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Sunday, March 3, 2013

Oh, The Oscars Gift Lounge

We last left off with my ramblings of "will I be able to handle this"????

Can I handle this without freaking out?

(Freakout Face)

I didn't want to disappoint The Artisan Group's Leader, Valerie.

My first celeb pitch went well enough, but not absolutely perfect. During this event, I wanted perfection. I wanted Valerie to not have a single regret about asking me to help rep with her.

After D.W. Moffett left our table and I was able to talk to Val about my pitch... I waited. Some press people came in and immediately went to Valerie.

Throughout this entire event I could not believe the reputation The Artisan Group has. Tons of press outlets, celebrities, sponsors, people working at GBK's gift lounge- all raved about The Artisan Group. They love coming to the exhibit and receiving gorgeous handcrafted items. I felt a little bit like I was a celebrity when people came up and "oohed" and "ahhed" over TAGs products. It was awesome.

So.. back to what I was saying..... some press people went directly to Valerie since they knew her from previous events. They were hugging and talking and of course.. at that exact moment... I turn my head and see a celebrity.

This time though, I felt 100% more comfortable. I got this, I thought to myself. He's just another person. Noel made me feel so comfortable that it felt like just talking to a friend. He was so nice, he laughed along, seemed very interested in TAG products and was just an overall joy to talk to. The best part? HE POSED WITH AN ITEM!!!!!!!!!!

I did it. He was my first victory at this event. He was a nice guy, who was super sweet to me, and actually posed with an item for a picture.

This was the moment that I felt yes, I can do this! I will be fine.

90% of the celebs & press know about TAG. They came up to the table, big smiles, talking about the great gift bag they received at the previous event. How they loved going through the handmade items. One of the members of the press, Margie Barron from Entertainment Today, actually had on our bracelet from The Golden Globes Gift Lounge! We had to take a pic together showing off our Jewels For Hope items!

Cheesey pose, but I enjoyed it! Margie was so nice!

Raphael Sbarge from Once Upon A Time has to be one of my favorite people I have ever met in my life. He is such a genuine person- such a big heart. He came up to the table all smiles. Gave Valerie a huge hug since he has met her at numerous events in the past.

He stayed at our table for some time, taking numerous pictures, including a picture with me! He asked me to take one with him- so of course, I'm not going to say no! I talked with him a bit and Thanked him actually... his girlfriend runs a blog called Things To Love Right Now. Our first ever gifting last year- she wrote about the necklace we included. It MADE our year. I told Raphael that, and he looked so touched by what I said- he appreciated it so much that it made such an impact for us. He was just so sweet, I can't get over it. I am so happy to have met him.

Some more shining moments for me?

I met Joey Lawrence. That in itself is amazing to me. I grew up watching Joey. He was such a nice guy at the event!! As I shook his hand, it took all of me not to say "Whoa!".

Pamela Adlon from Californiacation came up to me and said "You are just too cute! I love everything about you" and then told me she loved my spike necklace. Thank you Pamela, thank you.

CCH Pounder said I looked like a Kardashian.

Eion Bailey from Once Upon A Time gave me a double high five and then held it. He is gorgeous btw and I thought I was going to pass out. My heart was pounding a solid 10 minutes after him and his wife left our table. Extremely sweet man, and just so darn good looking. Wow.

I met Harry from Sex and The City (also known to the world as Evan Handler).

Sarah Rafferty from Suits (a show I am a little bit obsessed with) and I talked for like 10 minutes. She's originally from the town over from me. We connected over that, haha. She is absolutely amazing- and so so pretty. I was so nervous talking to her- she was so nice though she made it easy for me to relax.

I met Tony Denison from The Closer and Major Crimes. My mom and I watched those shows religiously and the fact that I stood there with Tony for awhile talking to him just made my day. Such a nice man... as he was leaving the table he blew me a kiss and said "Stevie, So nice to meet you". I wanted to jump in the air and pretend to grab the "air kisses" but thought it would have seemed a bit stalker-esk. I didn't do it, don't worry.

I took personal pictures with 5 celebrities. Oh yea, 5... I know you're dying to know who. Check out the next post, full of celebrity photos!

I got to pose in front of the gorgeous GBK Wall like all the celebrities get to...

I did about a trillion interviews with press people. I was filmed for a lot of them and thought that was pretty cool. Can't believe that I was so calm about it haha.

Here is one I found so far online. Didn't do too badly, if I say so myself!

Let me know what you think!

The event lasted from 11:00-7:00 each day. Which is long in case you were wondering. After the end of day 1, I thought I was going to just drop right then and there. I made it to the bar though, so I was okay. Deep breaths and wine got me through the night.

Day two was just as crazy as day one. So many celebs and press coming through; it was such a fast paced event I am surprised I lasted! All of my "favorite moments" I listed above were from both days. I can't remember what exactly happened on which day- everything is all jumbled together.

At the end of the 2nd day though, I gave a big sigh of relief that I was able to survive. Those two days were so much work- I give Valerie a ton of credit. I absolutely loved it though. So much work, but 100% worth it. I will never forget this event.

I was so sad to leave the next day. I didn't want to go. But, my whirlwind of excitement was over... and back to Connecticut I had to go.

If you've made it this far through all of my posts, THANK YOU! I hope you enjoyed my trip as much as I did haha.

Stay tuned for one final post though, full of all my celeb photos!!! You won't want to miss them!

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Hi, my name is Stevie! I work with my mother Sandy at Jewels For Hope... we create handcrafted jewelry that donates to charity. I love anything handcrafted and will share my fabulous finds here. Thanks for stopping by!